Mystery virus toll rises, mutation fears emerge
BEIJING: A new virus that has killed 17 people in China could be adapting and mutating, top Chinese officials said on Wednesday, while warning that it could spread further amid worldwide efforts to contain a possible wider outbreak.
China has confirmed over 500 cases of the previously unknown strain of coronavirus across more than 17 provinces, most of them in the country’s heavily populated central, southern and eastern regions.
The first suspected cases of the infection were reported from Hong Kong and Macau, both special administration regions (SAR) of China, and as far as Mexico on Wednesday. Over 100 people are under observation in Hong Kong.
Cases of the virus have also been detected in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States, causing widespread alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Countries have been intensifying efforts to stop the spread of the pathogen — known by its technical name 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-ncov) .
In India, a total of 43 flights and 9,156 passengers have been screened till Tuesday at seven airports, including those in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, Union health secretary Preeti Sudan said in New Delhi, adding that no cases were detected.
The government has directed these airports to make arrangements for screening passengers arriving from China.
Sudan said the Indian Embassy in China was providing the health ministry with updates on the status of the infection. She said passengers travelling from China were requested to report to the nearest public health facility if they develop symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose, and sore throat.
Britain said it will start enhanced monitoring of passengers who arrive on direct flights from the Chinese city of Wuhan, suspected to be the epicentre of the outbreak. Serbia, too, will screen passengers arriving at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport using a thermal camera and is ready to quarantine anyone suspected of carrying the pathogen.
North Korea banned foreign tourists to guard against the entry of the virus, tour operators said. Most tourists to North Korea are Chinese or others who travel from China on organised tours.
Russia is working to develop a vaccine, Rospotrebnadzor, the country’s consumer safety regulator said on Wednesday, the RIA news agency reported.
The first case in the US — a Seattle resident in his 30s — is in good condition, American officials said. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said authorities were investigating one potential case of coronavirus in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
The virus is said to have originated from a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province, which, according to officials, was also dealing in “illegal wildlife”.
In Wuhan, large public events were cancelled on Wednesday and international football matches were moved to new locations. Visitors were urged to stay away, while residents advised not to leave the city of 11 million people.